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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Fun with Facebook Indexing

The latest Facebook status trend is amusing. People all over Facebook are posting this in their status:

Facebook will automatically index all your info on Google, which allows everyone to view it. To change this option, go to Settings --> Privacy Settings --> Search --> then UN-CLICK the box that says 'Allow indexing'. Facebook kept this one quiet.

Head on over to The Squid Zone for some good info and handy tips, if you’re the paranoid type.
Now for some fun.

Log into your Facebook account.

At the top-right of your Facebook page, where it says Search, type in allow indexing and hit enter.

On the left, click on Posts by Everyone

Sit back and enjoy the continuous status updates. It’ll refresh on its own.

What makes this more amusing is that all of those status updates are from people you don't know. All people who have their shorts in a knot about keeping their information private or for “friends only”.

Oh the irony.

Come on people. Facebook is a social networking site. If you lock all of you information up, how the hell is anyone you know supposed to find you? If you’re not willing to be a little “social” and do some “networking”, why are you there?

UPDATE: I’m sure this wasn’t there before, but now when you follow those instructions to turn off indexing, you get the following pop-up message:

Worried about search engines? Your information is safe.
There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile. They will still only see a basic set of information.